Friday, August 5, 2011

The last time I posted a ceviche recipe video, I almost had to hire a security detail to protect me from angry Peruvians. I'd done a bay scallop and mango ceviche, and within minutes of uploading, highly annoyed South Americans were demanding I change the name, since what I had made was NOT a ceviche.

It seems as though there are some very strict views on what may and may not go into a ceviche, which is too bad, since the technique begs for accessories. Thankfully, I'm no fundamentalist, so I was free to make this version.

One traditional ingredient I omitted was the sliced onions. Personally, I don't like the sharp bite of the raw onion in this recipe, so I decided to use chives instead. I'm pretty sure I'm in a very small minority, as most people consider the sliced onions an absolute necessity, so feel free to add those in.

This mahi mahi ceviche requires a little bit of knife work, but when you consider the seasonal advantage of not using the stove, and just how tasty this really is, I think it's all worthwhile. You can also use shrimp, scallops, swordfish, and snapper.

By the way, sorry about that extra "ceviche" up there, but it's not often you get the chance to publish a symmetrical post title. Enjoy!

TBH, I fail to see why that wouldn't be ceviche, perhaps it is not the traditional vegetables on it, but there are plenty of countries in South America that do it different. The most popular is the one from Peru but it is not the only one.

If I am looking to do a ceviche appetizer for two, martini glass style as in your other videos, would it work to buy the biggest scallop the store has, cube that up, eyeball the citrus juice to the top in a bowl, and then also eyeballing the amounts for the rest of the ingredients?

I guess the important part of the question is if one large scallop is about right for two folks.

I don't seen any complaining Peruvians, so I'll speak up as a chemist and say that denaturing has to do with the proteins in the fish. Protein shape and function are highly related, and that shape is highly dependent on pH, temperature, etc. When you add acid, it lowers the pH environment of the proteins in the fish and causes the proteins to unfold and change shape. The same thing happens when you cook them. That is denaturing. The acid in the citrus juice also messes with the pH in the bacteria that makes you think twice about eating raw meat so much that they die. Thus, "cooked" fish.

But as a person who likes to eat, I will definitely be making this. I was in love with empanadas arabes when I lived in Argentina (empanadas filled with ground beef cooked in lemon juice) and I anticipate these being equally enjoyable, but much friendlier to my diet.

when people complain about a dish like this let me say it's all about tradition and how things were made for years and years so it's anoying seing most af the time a recipe detroyed by a "cool modern" chef.so the complaining about is to preserve something or in the future you may see a chef making dulce de leche boiling a condenced milk can hehe thats for you john!! :) as always a great recipe you made.

Congrats on a great tasting version of a very traditional South American dish!!! I make it with very fine juliennes of carrot (sorry about the english / culinary terms - I'm not american nor chef) a dash of clamato, little ketchup and soy sauce... yums!! :D

Hey! congrats on a great version of a very traditional South American dish! I do it pretty much like that, just instead of jalapenos I use serrano, very fine carrot juliennes, a dash of clamato and a little ketchup mmmmmmm deliciousness on a tostada :D